Roger Blitz is leisure industries correspondent at the Financial Times, a post which covers the business of sport. He was responsible for leading the FT’s coverage of the 2012 London Olympics. He also oversaw the FT’s coverage of the Fifa World Cup in 2010 and the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Previously, he was a senior corporate reporter on the
Between 1996 and 1999, Roger was the editor of the Highbury and Islington Express. Previously, he worked at the Hampstead and Highgate Express where he was the assistant editor from 1992 to 1995 and chief reporter from 1990 to 1992. Roger graduated from the
On 8 June 1998 Joseph S. Blatter (
Mr. Blatter began his professional career as Head of Public Relations of the Valaisan Tourist Board in his native
In the summer of 1975, as Director of Technical Development Programmes at FIFA, Mr. Blatter began to set President João Havelange's projects into motion. It was the time when ideas for competition and educational programmes were germinating and the foundations being laid for competitions in the under-20 and under-17 categories as well as women's and indoor (futsal).
In 1981 the Executive Committee of the world governing body designated the multilingual Blatter as the new General Secretary and in 1990 promoted him to Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
At the end of March 1998 the direct support and the interest manifested by numerous national associations from all the confederations prompted him to stand at the 1998 FIFA Congress presidential election as their candidate. Joseph S. Blatter was re-elected for a second term on 29 May 2002 in
Antônio
Carlos Kfouri Aidar, Director of Control at FGV Projetos, the technical
advisory unit of FGV Foundation, Mr. Aidar graduated in business administration
from the FGV São Paulo School of Business Administration (EAESP/FGV) and has a
master’s in economics from
He is also professor of the undergraduate courses of the EAESP/FGV Department of Economics since 1977, and was the coordinator of the Special Program for Sports Management of GVPEC and member of the Mentoring Program.
He is the
author of a book on football management, and published several articles in
Ian Ayre is
the Managing Director and main board director of Liverpool Football Club.
Originating from Kirkdale, Liverpool, and educated at
Early
positions in the Royal Navy, global satellite television and communications
industry included a position as the regional director and subsequently the role
of Chief Executive for Pace Micro Technology PLC in
In August 2007 Ayre was recruited to spearhead the development of Liverpool Football Club’s commercial operations. During March 2011, Ayre was offered the Managing Director position by the club’s new owners, a position which he holds today.
Ian is also the non-executive Chairman of the Visitor Economy committee for Merseyside and Liverpool City Region.
Former Chairman of Liverpool Football Club, Martin Broughton concurrently serves as Chairman of British Airways and Deputy Chairman of its parent company,International Airlines Group. Previously he was CEO and Executive Chairman of British American Tobacco plc (BAT) for 11 years and was the President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) from 2007-09. Sir Martin has had significant involvement in sport for many years. With BAT, he oversaw the start-up of a Formula One team which was subsequently purchased by Honda.
He also served as an Independent Director of the British Horseracing Board (BHB) before becoming its Chairman and overseeing its transformation into a regulatory board. At the BHB, he was at the forefront of pushing a more coherent strategy for the horseracing industry and utilizing his political skills to pull together the diverse interests of the primary stakeholders (owners, trainers, and operators) together. Sir Martin originally trained as an accountant before joining BAT in 1971.
Michel
Davidovich is VP and General Manager for the 2014 FIFA World Cup at Coca-Cola
Before joining Coca-Cola, Mr. Davidovich was an engagement manager at
McKinsey & Company in
Felipe Lobo Faro graduated as
a lawyer from
In 1999 he
joined Traffic Sports Marketing, a leading sports marketing agency in
Since
February 2012 has been Head of Sports of Santos FC, responsible for Professional
Football, Grassroots Projects,
Ron Gourlay
has been Chief Executive of Chelsea Football Club for three years. He joined
the club in 2004 and before becoming Chief Executive he held a variety of
director,level roles, including Chief Operating Officer.
In his first year as Chief Executive, Chelsea FC won an historic Double, claiming both the Premier League and FA Cup. Last season saw the club win the Champions League for the first time in its history as well as the FA Cup for the seventh time.
As well as
success on the pitch, through his leadership the club has gone from strength to
strength off it. Under Gourlay, commercial revenues have increased as has the
club's charitable work through the award-winning Chelsea Foundation and global
CSR projects in Asia Pacific and the
In October 2012, Gourlay was appointed to FIFA's Marketing Committee.
He has more than 30 years experience in football having previously undertaken senior roles at Manchester United, where he was Commercial Director, and 15 years at Umbro, latterly as Sales and Operations Director.
Nizan
Guanaes is Chairman and Founder of Grupo ABC, a Brazilian holding company that
is comprised of 15 companies in advertising, specialized marketing services,
content and entertainment sectors. In just ten years it has become the 18th
largest marketing communications group in the world (Agency Report 2011 -
Advertising Age).
Nizan was named one of the five most influential Brazilians by the Financial Times; is one of the 21 global influencers on media and marketing according to Advertising Age and Fast Company magazine describes him as one of "the 100 most creative people in business".
For more
than 20 years Nizan has dedicated a great part of his time to social causes,
primarily related to education, entrepreneurship and the preservation of
Edward Lange
has been the CEO of Allianz
Under Mr. Lange’s management, the operations of Allianz Insurance and Allianz Health had a total turnover of BRL 3.6 billion in 2012, a 16.2% increase in relation to the previous year. The profit recorded in the period amounted to BRL 122 million. Mr. Edward Lange wants to achieve the goal of reaching a turnover of BRL 5.8 billion by 2015.
Edward Lange
studied Business Administration in
Joe Leahy is
Before joining the Financial Times in 2000, Leahy was the Jakarta bureau chief for AFX and also worked for the South China Morning Post as a subeditor and then as Indonesia correspondent.
In 2009, he
won the Journalist of the Year award, the most prestigious prize of the Society
of Publishers in
Joe is a graduate of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree (Journalism).
Carlos
Moreira Founder, Chairman & CEO, WISeKey Nominated by Bilan.CH among the
300 most influential persons in
Since 1999 Founder, Chairman and CEO of WISeKey SA. Founder and Secretary- General OISTE.org. Member of the UN Global Compact, member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council. Founding Member of the World Economic Forum Global Growth Companies. World Economic Forum New Champion 2007 to 2013, Vice Chair World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Illicit Trade 2012/13; founder of the Geneva Security Forum SA, member of Clinton Global Initiative. Entrepreneur and investor in technology companies. Founder WISeKey SA and WISeTrust SA.
Since 2012 developed WISfans.com to reinforce digital social marketing strategies for football clubs working with leading sports franchises to capture the essence of supporters’ interaction and to develop original ways to use social media to energize dynamics.
Marcos Motta is founder partner of Bichara e Motta Advogados (Brasil) and has been recognised repeatedly for his professional expertise in football business law as from 1997. Since then he has served as legal counsel in the largest transactions in the field of football and in over three-hundred high stakes, cutting edge cases and arbitrations before the Fédération Internationale de Football Association - FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport - CAS|TAS.
During his career Marcos has been advising several football clubs worldwide, governing bodies, national associations, investment funds, media and marketing agencies and global football starlets, artists and their agents on contracts with clubs and sponsors, including image rights agreements, endorsements and transfer deals. He has also participated to the Government Working Group for the revision of the Brazilian sports legal system in 2009 and is a regular contributor to various sports business conferences, seminars and publications worldwide.
Mayor
Eduardo Paes was born in the city of
In 2000, he was nominated as Municipal Environment Secretary. In 2002,
Paes returned to the Chamber of Deputies for his second term as Congressman. In
2007, the year of the Pan American Games, Paes was named Secretary of State for
Tourism, Sport and Leisure. And on January 1st, 2009, Paes took office as Mayor
of Rio.
Michael
Payne has been at the forefront of the sports marketing industry for nearly
thirty years – having lead the global marketing effort for the Olympic Movement
for more than two decades, from 1983 to 2004 as the IOC’s first ever Marketing
and Broadcast Rights Director. Nominated as one of the world’s most influential
marketers by Advertising Age,
Michael oversaw the development and implementation of the marketing programmes for 15 Olympic Summer and Winter Games.
During his tenure at the IOC, Michael lead the marketing team that would generate in excess of $15 billion in broadcast and marketing revenues programmes, and advise many of the world’s foremost corporations on how to use their Olympic partnership to drive business. In 2003, Michael was responsible for negotiating new industry record level media rights agreements with US and European broadcasters to the value of nearly $3 billion.
In September 2004, following the Athens Olympic Games, Michael resigned from the IOC to become an independent sports marketing consultant joining the management team of F1, as special advisor to the Chairman – CEO, Mr Bernie Ecclestone, in addition to taking on a number of other senior strategic advisory roles, including that of the successful London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Bids. Michael also serves on a number of Boards, including Chairman of Crystal CG’s International Division – the world’s largest 3D Digital animation company.
A British
citizen. Michael is a regular commentator on sports marketing industry affairs for
CNN, BBC and other media groups around the world.
Marcelo De
Campos Pinto has been Executive Director of Globo Esportes – Rede Globo de
Televisão (Globo TV Networw) since 2000.
In 2008 he became a member of the FIFA Midia Comission. From June 1994 to March 2000 Marcelo De Campos Pinto was the General Legal Counsel of Rede Globo deTelevisão (Globo TV Network) and from 1984 to May 1994 he was the Vice-President of Banco Boavista S.A., responsible for the Legal, Human Resources and International Business Development Divisions.
During 1983 to
1984 he was an associate at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen &
Hamilton in
José Aldo
Rebelo Figueiredo was born in Viçosa (AL), in 1956. He is a writer and
journalist by profession, and was elected congressman six times in
Appointed by
the DIAP – Inter-Parliamentary Advisory Department – as one of the most
influential congressmen in
Today, millions of Brazilians are able to benefit from the provisions for the country’s development and the wellbeing of its people that were included in the legislation.
Luiz Eduardo
Baptista Pinto da Rocha (BAP) is the President of SKY Brasil. In this role he
is responsible for all of the company’s operations including its $3.4 billion
business, 1,800 employees and 10,000 sales and technical collaborators.
Since
joining DIRECTV in 2003, BAP’s accomplishments include leading the merger
between DIRECTV and SKY. Under his leadership, SKY
BAP holds a
bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de
Janeiro in Brazil and an MBA from the Coppead Graduate School of Business at
the Federal University of Rio de Janiero. He was awarded 2011 CEO of the Year by
Consumidor Moderno magazine. BAP is based at SKY Brasil’s
Luis Paulo Rosenberg, Director and
Partner of Rosenberg Consultores Associados and of Rosenberg Partners
Consultores Empresariais Ltda & Marketing Vice President of Sport Club
Corinthians Paulista
Bachelors
Degree in Economics from Universidade de São Paulo, with Masters and PhD in
Economics degrees from
Formerly Professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas de São Paulo (FGV) and, Universidade de Brasília (UnB).
Ex-Professor and Lecturer of ITA - Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica, the Air Force Engineering School.
Advisor to Minister Delfim Netto during President of Brazil João Figueiredo’s term, responsible for the areas of Science and Technology and investments in Energy, and member of the IMF negotiation team.
Economic Advisor
to President of
In the private sector, was Vice President of SHARP Group´s holding company and board member of NESTLÉ BRASIL S.A. and B.B.V.A.
In his
youth, Marcel Schmid was a passionate football player. He joined Grasshopper FC
of
At the
beginning of the 1990s, he mustered the courage to become independent, setting
up a communication agency that went on to specialise increasingly in the field
of sports in general and later in football in particular. This resulted in an
idea in 1999 to offer the football industry an opportunity to meet at a
high-level platform, the International Football Arena. From 2007, the IFA
expanded from
Alexey Sorokin
represents a new generation of sports leaders in
Alexey has a wide range of experience in international relations. He has led a number of key sports projects in
Alexey was a Project Leader for the successful Moscow UEFA Champions League final and this led to his appointment as CEO of The Football Union of Russia in 2008. In 2009, Alexey became the leader
of
In March 2012,
Alexey was also appointed as a special adviser to the Organising Committee for
the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA standing committee. Alexey is
a graduate of the
Hassan Al
Thawadi is Secretary General for the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, the
organization responsible for coordinating public and private Qatari entities to
ensure infrastructure and development projects are delivered in readiness for
the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
His appointment in March 2011 as Secretary General follows on from his role as Chief Executive Officer in Qatar’s 2022 Bid Committee, in which he worked closely with Bid Chairman, H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, promoting Qatar’s revolutionary and ultimately successful attempt to bring the FIFA World Cup to the Middle East for the first time.
A graduate
in Law from
Ricardo
Trade, CEO of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the FIFA World Cup Brazil
2014, is 56 years old. Former goalkeeper of the Brazilian handball team, Trade
has been involved with sports since he was 11. He graduated in Physical
Education and began working as physical trainer and team supervisor for
He opened
his own company, which was responsible for managing the Futsal League. Trade
was then invited to be the Services General Manager of the 2007
Frenchman Jérôme Valcke was appointed as
Secretary General by the FIFA Executive Committee on 27 June 2007. Valcke
joined FIFA in the summer of 2003 as the director of Marketing & TV.
Jérôme Valcke has enjoyed a brilliant career with several different companies. He began working for Canal + as a journalist in 1984 and became assistant director of its Sports Service in 1991. Canal + then put him in charge of its brand new Sport + channel in 1997, and he held that post until 2002, when Sport + became part of the merger that produced Sportfive. He worked as Chief Operating Officer at the new entity for a year, before joining FIFA as Director of Marketing & TV in June 2003.
